Cantrip is a roleplaying game about witches who are coming of age while studying at a magical Academy. They will grapple with their place in the world at large, their emotions, their budding relationships, the expectations placed on them by everyone in their lives, the secrets held by the Academy, the weird and wonderful creatures that reside within it, and the constant scheming of their fellow witches.
This game takes inspiration from a lot of media involving the magical and supernatural coexisting and clashing with a mundane world. The most direct inspiration is Studio Trigger’s Little Witch Academia and you’ll find that the playbooks closely resemble many of the characters in that anime. Other sources of inspiration include Witch Hat Atelier, The Owl House, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. More tangentially, slice-of-life anime like Yuru-Camp and Non Non Biyori provide a lot of the tonal inspiration.
Cantrip is unabashedly queer and explicitly rejects the reactionary and unfun tropes that tend to show up in Magical Academy media and opts to tell a story that, while not free of conflict, is decidedly about girls living their best lives.
In Cantrip you will play as one of the six archetypical witches you might find at The Academy:
- the wonder-filled if magically uninclined Star-Struck
- the swamp-loving Hedge mycologist
- the aristocratic and resourceful Posh
- the perpetually flustered but highly capable Senior
- the show-stopping and prank-loving Breaker
- the mystical and powerful Sybil
Throughout a session or a campaign of Cantrip your witches will come to terms with school life, city life, the semi-sentient Weave of magic witches draw their power from, the school’s authorities, their fellow students (including the comically powerful student council), the nearby townspeople and the many mythological and magical creatures that inhabit the world. The world of Cantrip is brought to life in Celeste Cruz’s (@caelstyx) striking, colorful art.
Cantrip is meant to be picked up and played very quickly, with no pre-game preparation needed. You will begin play by choosing and defining your playbook, and then working as a group to define the nature of the academy - what it's like, where it is, what wonders and dangers and weird little secrets it might contain.
Play progresses by turns and always gives you the option to skip the spotlight and simply make something cool up - another player can grab that thread and spin a fun scene out of it. Adversaries, helpful people, opportunities and obstacles are represented by Aspects anyone can pick up at any point. Witches are rad and powerful but they do need a little adversity to really shine and show off!
One of the coolest parts about Cantrip is that you're encouraged to be as engaged as you want to be. There's room - and mechanics - to support highly elaborate scenes as well as chill, short snippets. Whatever you're in the mood for when it's your turn is fine. It's your game and I tried to make that come through in the text.
